O Violino Vermelho

I had never heard of this movie until I heard about it on the radio. I listen to classical music, and the staion was praising Joshua Bell (an ohio native) on his perfomance of the music. I was curious and saw it when it came on video. not only did i fall in love with the movie itself, but also the music. it was soothing, passionate, and brutal all at the same time. Many people I have talked to have said that Le Violon Rouge was just some crappy indie movie. However, the music is as beautiful as the plot. The storyline and the way it was presented in the form of different people who wanted the violin for different reasons was not so much genius, but different and fitting.

After watching too many would-be "great pieces" lately that are enticing you from TV commercials, leaving you (or me, I should say) disappointed most of the time, "The Red Violin" is a gem among all these fleeting flicks or time-wasters. Recommended by a good friend I went to see this piece and frankly, I came out of the theater speechless! I was overwhelmed, enriched as well as happy that I finally, in years, got to see something that's well worth while.

From the story, costumes, cinematography, acting and finally its greatest actor -the superb music- all absolutely flawless! S.L.Jackson acts at his best, his performance is unforgettable and I am sure one of his own most favourite; I can tell. I was estatic to see J.Corigliano win the Oscar for the best score, and saddened at the fact that the whole movie wasn't nominated for even more Oscars - are they blind in that Academy or what?! Now that's a shame but you know what I don't care what the Academy has to say, important is my subjective feeling and this movie made my day, and days to come.

I couldn't wait to get hold of both, the video and the sound track, and I never seem to get tired watching or hearing that beauty all over again. And believe it or not, that ingenious soundtrack can be so erotic at times that if I may give a little advice to all these men out there seeking to entice and seduce their partners - hey, this might be the way to go - worked for me (and her!)!!!

Anyways, I'd like to recommend this movie to everybody with an open heart and mind, I guarantee satisfaction and enrichment in every possible way. And lastly let me bestow my gratitude and thanks to the very director F.Girard for enlightening my spirit, my heart and my soul with his vision of a truly quality story that I can never forget.

This is art. Real art. So few films try for this much.

My sadness is that its appeal will be limited to polyglots, musicians, and lovers of costume drama. It's worth so much more than that. Beautifully shot, sensitively scripted and acted, and cleverly executed, this deserves more awards and greater coverage than it's going to get.

9 out of 10. I dock one point because Girard occasionally lets the pace drop to deadly, and because Jason Flemyng and Greta Scacchi irritated me beyond words - but that's not Girard's fault.

I saw this film the same day it came highly recommended to me by a coffee shop friend who couldn't stop gushing about it. While this guy is also a member of the Academy and has steered me to some pretty good picks in the past, I walked into the theater fearing the usual letdown that invariably follows going into a film with overly high expectations (i.e. The English Patient, The Truman Show, etc.) This film not only managed to exceed my expectations, it restored my faith in the magic and mystery of cinema altogether.

We start with a rather simple but cleverly structured story about a very unique red violin that emblematically (and quite literally for that matter) takes on the heart and fate of a 16th century Italian woman as it passes across several centuries and continents on its way to the auction block in present day Montreal. The unfolding vignettes reveal more and more about the nature of this instrument and, when strung together in the bigger picture, play out like finely orchestrated movements of a great sonata; each movement plucking out its own stirring and poignant variation on theme. I was so swept up in the majesty and spectacle of this film that it didn't even occur to me until much later that the violin is nothing less than a personification of beauty itself (okay, okay, maybe I'm starting to overly deconstruct things here in retrospect, but the parallels are too perfect to remain unexplored). It's fascinating to watch both the transformative and destructive power of this beauty as it's placed into the hands of a sensitive young boy, a self absorbed musical protege, and a remorseful ring leader of a totalitarian regime. Much praise goes to director Francois Girard in how he refrained from overplaying the social and moral commentary, repeating this theme at mostly an emotional level rather than an intellectual one -- much in the same way that beauty itself, to some degree anyway, defies analytical discussion and belongs in the realm of pure and simple experience. You obviously can't dissect it, as co-writer Don McKellar¹s onscreen character thought to do, and so it remains as it was in it's original form: timeless, magical, elusive. The stuff that pompous nobility and rich collectors the world over will offer a king's ransom for and still never manage to posses in the end.

Performances were good to great all around. It's hard to go wrong with Samuel L. Jackson in a leading role and I appreciated the fact that the actors actually appeared to be playing the violin on camera, as opposed to watching the typical hokey cutaways and cheat shots often associated with onscreen musical performances; nauseating contrivances that always tear down the wall of suspended disbelief with a resounding crash. The costuming, set design and cinematography were absolutely stunning (Oscar nominations soon to follow I'm sure) without taking center stage from the story. I especially loved the amazing period recreations of China and Austria. I felt like I was fully transported in both space and time to these places and walking among people who really belonged there.

Overall I would rate this one as a true film classic on the level of masterpiece. Perhaps this is in part due to my love for music and the undeniable fact that, being the sentimental guy that I am, I'm always a sucker for haunting open-ended films like this where you leave the theater in a half daze, pondering all the implications, mesmerized by the lingering imagery. I'm still speculating about the future of Mr. Moritz and what will ultimately happen when beauty is placed into the hands of our modern world.

I thought this might be one of those films that would be "good for me" to see. I was mildly intrigued by descriptions of the story I had read and with the trailer, so I thought to take a chance. I took someone very close to me, an actual violin prodigy. Coincidently, her and I have recently been searching for a decent violin for her that is affordable by actual humans, so we could relate to parts of the plot first-hand. We arrived to a very thin theater in one of those mega-complex theaters, and while everyone was queuing up next-door to see the latest blockbuster from Hollywood I settled into an amazingly comfortable seat with an excellent view and prepared for whatever might come.

I was shocked. This film turned out to be clearly one of the best movie going experiences I have had in ages. We see this as the story unfolds and is creatively told through the reading of the violin makers wife's fortune with a deck of Tarot cards. It is the story of a part of the life of a violin; of the humans who would dare to possess her beauty. A masterpiece of a craftsman's art, it is desired by many for it's acoustic perfection. But, as Tolstoy said, "how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness." Or more interestingly, from Saint Augustine: "Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked." There seems to be a curse on this instrument as it brings ill to those who manage to possess it. This makes the ending especially eerie.

An original, imaginative and thought provoking story that engaged one's mind as American films almost never do. I will not describe more of the plot, it's far too good to ruin. The memory of this film will be one long treasured.

Oh, as for my guest, the honest-to-God prodigy: she said the music was magnificent (it was) even though a real musician could tell the actors weren't playing, it was well done.